Man Open Carries AR-15 in Middle of Dallas Police Ambush, Doesn't Get Shot

An armed citizen became the center of media attention when Dallas Police identified him as a person of interest in the horrific police ambush Thursday night. Photos and videos circulated on social media of the armed black man wearing a camouflage t-shirt and slung AR-15. Mark Hughes, as his brother reported on Twitter, surrendered his rifle to his brother Corey, who turned it in to police on-scene when Mark turned himself in. Tonight's events show that open carry of long guns does not cause mass hysteria and will not get you shot.

Open carry of long guns is legal in Texas and has been a point of contention until Texas legalized the open carry of handguns this year. Ironically, Texas prohibited open carry in the 19th Century to disarm free slaves and other 'undesirable' persons.

Dallas PD, Twitter

Brian Redban, Twitter

Shots fired at #blacklivesmattertx March @dallasnews pic.twitter.com/2TqIQgkXVm

— DMN Photo (@dallasnewsphoto) July 8, 2016

Carrying a long-gun is highly discouraged and frowned upon in the gun community because it is viewed as alarmist. Prior to such an event, one could imagine Mr. Hughes' evening going very differently. Facts have shown now that even in the middle of chaos, where a black person with an AR-15 rifle is identified as potential suspect, that a person calmly walking even with a slung rifle isn't automatically going to be shot. Most of the officers in the video didn't even notice Mr. Hughes, let alone take any adverse action to him.

Open carry isn't going to get you killed. Resisting police officers while armed when they are wrestling with you (Alton Sterling) will get you killed. We will refrain from making any specific comments on the recent shootings. As for the incident in Minnesota, there is not enough information to make a judgement at this point. Most legally armed citizens are not a threat to police officers and are often quite supportive of police.

What happened in Dallas was an assault on justice. In no way can any rational person make any kind of justification for this kind of terrorism. If there are problems with bad policing, there needs to be changes of leadership, better training, and better involvement from the community not violence.

While many of us may disagree with the Black Lives Matter movement, police, or vise versa, we should all be able to agree on the following:

1. Police do not deserve to be shot, much less ambushed.
2. We all have the right to peacefully assemble and bear arms while doing so.
3. The minority of bad police shootings do not represent the whole and do not merit wholesale condemnation of all.